Dealing with Temptation
Sermon # 2 “How to Conquer Temptation”
Joshua 7:1, 16-23
Last Sunday we talked about how to comprehend temptation. We showed you from God’s Word how Satan’s temptation strategy is predictable. We saw how he uses the same old methods and lies each time he tempts us to sin. Let me refresh your memory as to the steps of Temptation:
• Step of Disobedience
• Step of Desire
• Step of Doubt
• Step of Deception
• Step of Destruction
This morning we see in our passage how falling prey to temptation can destroy a person’s life, affect those people all around him, and even cost people their lives. One of Satan’s great lies to us when faced with temptation is this: “Go ahead and try it once. It is your life and your choice. It is not going to hurt anybody if you give in just this one time. Besides, who is going to find out?”
Many of us fall prey to this lie and we think that somehow we can fall to temptation without any consequences to our own lives or the lives of others. Somehow we think we are immune to the judgment of God or that in someway God might just overlook our disobedience. What happens is that when we allow ourselves to fall prey to temptation, we render ourselves ineffective in the service of the Lord. We hurt the name of Jesus. We forfeit our testimony, and we have to live with the consequences of our sin. (READ)
Notice the consequences of falling to temptation. . . We want to avoid this in our own lives today. Let’s talk about several ways that we can conquer temptation and overcome it . . .
I. WE MUST REFUSE INTIMIDATION
We brought out the fact last week that all of us are going to be tempted. Most of us have already faced temptation today. If you haven’t, then chances are really good that you will face it. Many Christian people are filled with guilt and shame because somehow they think they should be “beyond” temptation or as if they were really spiritually mature, they would no longer be tempted. The truth is that none of us ever spiritually outgrow temptation. Satan wants to use temptation to intimidate us into doing nothing for the Lord. He beats us up over our failures and tries to render us ineffective.
We must refuse intimidation from the Devil. In fact, temptation is a compliment to our Christian lives. Satan does not have to tempt those who are already following His plans. In fact, if you are not tempted regularly, something may be wrong with your spiritual life. Rick Warren says, “Temptation is a sign that Satan hates you.” The truth is that the closer you grow toward God and grow in Christlikeness, the more Satan will try to tempt you and intimidate you. We must refuse intimidate.
II. WE MUST RECOGNIZE OUR PATTERN
By this I mean that there are certain situations and circumstances in life that make you more vulnerable to temptation than others. Satan knows our weaknesses and those times when we are most vulnerable to temptation. For this reason, Peter spoke from personal experience when he warned in 1 Pt. 5:8, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Here are the questions to ask yourselves:
• When am I most tempted? (Day, time of day, etc.)
• Where am I most tempted? (home, school, work, out of town, where?)
• How do I feel just before I am tempted? (tired, frustrated, bored, etc.)
Recognizing your pattern for temptation helps you conquer Satan’s patter for tempting you.
III. WE MUST REQUEST HELP
Listen to what the Lord says to us in Psalm 50:15, “Call upon me in the day of your trouble; I will deliver you and you will honor me.” All the strength, wisdom, power, and assistance we need for conquering temptation are just a prayer away! God is waiting to help you conquer your temptations!
If God is ready and waiting to help us conquer our temptations, then why do we so often hesitate calling on God for help? I believe that many times we just do not want God’s help. Often we want to give into temptation, even when we know it is wrong. Other times we are embarrassed to ask God for help because we continue to fall into the same trap and we continue to give into the same temptation over and over again. Yet, God’s desire is that we call on Him. His desire is that we not make our own decisions, follow our own ways, or rely on our own strength to conquer temptation. To succeed, we must request help from God. . . recorgnize your pattern . . . refuse intimidation..
IV. WE MUST REFOCUS OUR ATTENTION
A few minutes ago I read what Peter warned us about Satan being a roaring lion on the prowl in 1 Peter 5:8. In the next verse, verse 9, Peter tells us to resist the devil. No where does God’s Word say we are to resist temptation because we cannot simply resist a thought. When we have a tempting thought we must realize the danger of allowing that though Satan places in our minds to intensify to the point that we are dwelling on that thought. By resisting that thought, we reinforce that thought in our minds.
Example: No one in this sanctuary should think about a red elephant. . . what did you think about?
When we allow tempting thoughts into our minds, they can consume us and we fall prey to the temptation. When these thoughts come into our minds, what we must do is immediately refocus our attention on something else. We must simply choose the channel of our minds to something else.
Rick Warren says, “The Battle for sin is won or lost in your mind.” The things that capture our attention often times captures us. How many of you are tempted by Chocolate chip cookies? The more you think about them, the more you want them. Simply saying to yourself, “I have to stop eating so many sweets” will not make that temptation for a cookie go away. What we have to do is change our thinking to something other than a chocolate chip cookie. Sometimes this means that we must physically leave a tempting or a potentially tempting situation. Get up and turn off that TV; Shut down your computer; walk away from a group of gossipers . . . Do whatever is necessary to turn your attention to something else. Keep your mind occupied with God’s Word and other good thoughts. Paul says in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.”
V. WE MUST REVEAL OUR STRUGGLES
This is a difficult thing for all of us to do. You should not advertise your struggles, but you do need to have 1 person or a small accountability group of people whom you can trust and who love and care for you enough to allow you to reveal your personal struggles. Listen to Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”
Let’s be real this morning: If you constantly losing the same battle to a certain temptation, if you are losing against a bad habit or an addiction, you will never conquer it on your own! Some temptations are only overcome with the help of the Lord and the help of a partner who can pray for you, hold you accountable, and encourage you. You cannot continue to conceal and cover up that problem, you must confess it!
Pride often stands in the way of this type of honesty because we want others to think we have our lives under control. The fact is that whatever we cannot talk about that is taking place in our lives already has control of our lives. If you could handle that situation on your own, you would have already done so.
Here are the questions: What are you pretending is not a problem in your life? What are you afraid to reveal to others? To conquer temptations, we must reveal our struggles and allow God and others to help us!
VI. WE MUST REALIZE OUR VULNERABILITY
Billy Graham has said this: “Given the right circumstances, any of us are capable of committing any and every kind of sin.” We must be on our guard against Satan and his temptations. We are all vulnerable. There are none of us strong enough in our own strength to win every battle against temptation. We must not carelessly put ourselves into situations where we know we will be tempted. We must avoid them at all costs. It is much easier for us to stay out of a tempting situation or predicament before it comes that it is to get out of it once we are in it! Understand your vulnerable spots of life and do not expose them to Satan.
VII. WE MUST RESIST THE DEVIL
The book of James gives us a clear example about what we should do in reference to temptation. James tells us in the first part of chapter 4 that we must make it a priority in our lives to be humble and to submit ourselves to the will of God. Then James says in 4:7, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
How can we resist the Devil and conquer temptation?
In Ephesians 6:16-17, Paul gives us the answers when he says, “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit of God.” 2 steps Paul says we need to take to resist the devil and conquer temptation:
First Step: Accept God’s Salvation through Jesus Christ!
You cannot say “no” to Satan, unless you have said “yes” to Jesus! Without Jesus living in our lives and working in our lives, we are defenseless against Satan. As a Christian, Satan cannot force you to do anything. He can only tempt and make suggestions. As a Christian God provides you a way of escape, the strength and power to escape, and the will to do what is right.
Without Jesus as your Lord, you do not stand a chance in this world!
Second Step: Read, study, memorize, and apply God’s Word to your everyday life.
Jesus is our example. In the wilderness Jesus was tempted for 40 days by Satan. Every time Satan suggested a tempting thought, Jesus resisted him by quoting the Word of God. Jesus did not argue with Satan. He did not try to reason with Satan. He did not try to rationalize the temptation. Jesus simply responded with God’s Word. Over and over Satan came at Him. Not once did Jesus panic, get upset, become agitated, or anxious. He simply quoted the life-changing, powerful Word of God that Satan fears! Finally, Satan left him!
